For Intelligent and Sensitive Turkeys, Thanksgiving Is Nothing to Cluck AboutA Meat and Dairy Industries Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM

The suffering these birds endure is considered standard by the
industrial agriculture industry.

Suddenly, the day felt utterly depressing. So much of the dinnertable
conversation revolved around the remains of a tortured animal who was not so
different from my beloved cats. Who’s going to carve the turkey? Who gets
the legs?The holiday I’d always loved for its spirit of gratitude centered
on an animal who had nothing to be grateful for in her life.

On Thanksgiving alone, 45 million turkeys will be killed, after a life
filled with torture - Photo Credit: Penn State/Flickr

Thanksgiving always meant gratitude, happiness and eating turkey at my
Aunt Mollie’s house. It wasn’t until later, when I learned what turkeys go
through to arrive at our table, that I began to see the holiday differently.

Suddenly, the day felt utterly depressing. So much of the dinnertable
conversation revolved around the remains of a tortured animal who was not so
different from my beloved cats. Who’s going to carve the turkey? Who
gets the legs?The holiday I’d always loved for its spirit of gratitude
centered on an animal who had nothing to be grateful for in her life.

This Thanksgiving alone, 45 million turkeys will be killed for our dinners.
Now that I know what sensitive and intelligent individuals turkeys are, it
breaks my heart.

Turkeys are also highly social. They boast a complex vocabulary of gobbles,
clucks, putts, yelps, and whistles. Turkeys have personality and character,
and they purr when petted. They mourn the deaths of flock mates. In the
wild, turkeys happily spend their days caring for their babies, building
nests, foraging, grooming, and even hanging out in trees. Baby turkeys stay
with their mothers for the first five months of their lives.

But factory-farmed turkeys, which are pretty much all Thanksgiving turkeys,
meet their deaths at around five months of age. In fact, the turkeys we eat
have been selectively bred to grow so large so fast that many of them suffer
from painful bone defects, hip joint lesions, and crippling deformities. And
the nightmare doesn’t stop there.

Live turkey at the kill blade. (image: Mercy for Animals)

Many turkeys have heart attacks upon watching their fellow birds being
killed. If they survive until slaughter, production lines move so fast that
workers often fail to kill the birds before they are dropped into the
scalding feather-removal tanks fully conscious.

This horrific suffering is considered standard and acceptable by the animal
agriculture industry. But the cruelty goes even further.

Undercover investigations into Butterball—the largest turkey producer in the
U.S.—resulted in the first-ever felony conviction for cruelty to
factory-farmed birds after workers were documented punching, kicking and
throwing turkeys. These heartbreaking investigations revealed baby birds
ground up alive in giant macerators, toes and beaks cut or burned off
without painkillers, and injured animals left to suffer and die without
proper veterinary care. But Butterball is no outlier.

Thankfully, the Thanksgiving holiday lends itself perfectly to eating
cruelty-free. Classic sides like mashed potatoes, string bean casserole,
cornbread and stuffing, are easily and deliciously veganized. Turkeys can be
easily replaced with delicious centerpiece, like stuffed squash, vegan
wellington or plant-based roasts. (My top recommendations are the
Celebration Roast by Field Roast and Gardein’s Holiday Roast.) Many options
are available at chain grocers or natural foods stores.

These days, with so many healthy and delicious options, it's easy to feel
satiated without contributing to animal cruelty, on Thanksgiving Day or any
other day. Now that's something to be grateful for.

Ari Solomon serves as the director of communications at Mercy For
Animals, a national non-profit farmed animal protection organization.

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